Subthreshold Xi- Production in Collisions of p(3.5 GeV)+Nb

Results on the production of the double-strange cascade hyperon $\mathrm{Ξ^-}$ are reported for collisions of p\,(3.5~GeV)\,+\,Nb, studied with the High Acceptance Di-Electron Spectrometer (HADES) at SIS18 at GSI Helmholtzzentrum for Heavy-Ion Research, Darmstadt. For the first time, subthreshold $\mathrm{Ξ^-}$ production is observed in proton-nucleus interactions. Assuming a $\mathrm{Ξ^-}$ phase-space distribution similar to that of $\mathrmΛ$ hyperons, the production probability amounts to $P_{\mathrm{Ξ^-}}=(2.0\,\pm0.4\,\mathrm{(stat)}\,\pm 0.3\,\mathrm{(norm)}\,\pm 0.6\,\mathrm{(syst)})\times10^{-4}$ resulting in a $\mathrm{Ξ^-/(Λ+Σ^0)}$ ratio of $P_{\mathrm{Ξ^-}}/\ P_{\mathrm{Λ+Σ^0}}=(1.2\pm 0.3\,\mathrm{(stat)}\pm0.4\,\mathrm{(syst)})\times10^{-2}$. Available model predictions are significantly lower than the estimated $\mathrm{Ξ^-}$ yield.

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